AIBU to think being a teacher/teaching assistant is worthwhile just for the holidays?

[MrsCD67]

Just that really!
I'd love to know what teachers/TAs think of their jobs- pros and cons.
Of course it would be unreasonable to take a teaching assistant job just for the holidays but it's just so tempting for me as I want a work/life balance!

What are school holidays like for teachers/TAs in terms of workload?
Thanks!

IME behaviour is challenging - I've been spat at, smacked, hit, kicked, told to "f* off", bitten, stabbed with a pencil, and witnessed kids destroying a classroom when having a meltdown (ripping work off walls and throwing chairs/tipping tables). It's the most emotionally draining job I've had. You need the time off in order to recuperate, even then some staff just burn out after a while.

When it's good, I enjoy it; it's like having 30 excitable, funny, energetic, life-loving people around you.

Only you can decide if it's worth the holidays. For many, it isn't, hence leaving the profession.

Oh and all the above on just above min wage too......

I think the national teaching shortage, the recruitment and retention crisis and the desperate adverts on the telly tell you a different story dont they

My little sister is a TA. Her pay is shocking, she works an insane amount of overtime to help get the classroom and resources sorted and her job is reliant on pupil funding so she’s only on a one year contract and never knows until about May if the school is keeping her on. She’s already been let go twice due to lack of funding. Thankfully her current school have enough to keep her on next year. She loves her job but the stress of not knowing whether she’ll be kept on is awful

Yeah it's okay working as a TA. Because you can work it around your kids holidays (if you have school age children and in the same area) otherwise you're fuked for different holidays at different times and the pay is awful for what is expected of you.

No flexibility either. Wasn't allowed time off to go to my kids school event.

Does anyone have any experience of working in a SEN school?

But being off and not worrying about childcare in the holidays is good.
Depends on your circumstances and what you enjoy I guess

flyingelbows I am a TA. Love it, fits in well and can be very full on especially inspection week which is now but I find it really rewarding too. Pay not great.

I love teaching for lots of reasons.

Holidays are nice although I do have a fair bit of work to do during them, but I can do that at home at the times of my choice.

During the school year there is no leeway, though. I don't get to attend my own children's school plays, concerts, sports' days, swimming galas, open afternoons, class assemblies, etc. or help out on trips. I don't know many of their friends' parents as I'm never at the school gate. Their parents' evenings are during my working hours too. It is also difficult if they are sick on one of my school days or need taking to a doctor or dentist appointment - luckily where we live we can do those after my work finishes or on Saturday mornings.

Also for myself I have to schedule any appointments outside of work time and try never to be sick during term time / come into work anyway when sick.

My particular role requires me to come into school on results' days and the days around that period which effectively means my summer holiday ends on approx. 10th August each year rather than 24th ish like most of my colleagues.

As I said I love my job and don't begrudge any of this but there are aspects that may put off new joiners to the profession.

Just goes to show what bad publicity can do even inside teaching let alone outside of it re P.E. I was thinking of articles I've read suggesting maths teachers should be paid more than P. E. teachers due to higher workload.
Divide and conquer tactics maybe.

Pay for TAs is shocking. Holidays do make childcare easier, however going away is massively more expensive during school holidays and so I’m stuck with expensive holidays forever, non-teaching friends understandably never want to go on holiday with me.

YABU, sorry. For teachers holidays are just recovery time in between terms. The summer is the only holiday that feels like a "break" and even then you feel guilty.

Done supply in SEN schools op and I also work with hearing impaired children too.

There are other jobs available. I’m am. Science technician. I work 8.30-2.30 term time only

Yes they are good. But friends and family I know who aren’t teachers do seem to get good annual leave to the extent they sometimes have to take days off to use it all up! Teachers’ holidays are fixed really unless you work in a different setting to a normal school.

Yes I have worked in special schools and would recommend it. Smaller class sizes and more chance to really get to know the children rather than ploughing through a curriculum as quickly as possible. Much more TA support as well.

I'm a former teacher and, no, the holidays aren't worth it. For a start how much of the holidays you actually get off varies wildly from school to school (and even between departments within a school since a lot depends on the head of department) as well as how much responsibility you have. During term time I was working 7.30-6.30 (not including long commute) Mon-Fri and an average of 4-5 hours a day at weekends. In the holidays I'd probably work the equivalent of 3 weeks full time over the 6 weeks, plus about 1/3-1/2 of other holidays (unless I was on a residential trip).

Then, even if you actually get the holidays, there are plenty of other aspects of the job to offset that benefit. Don't get me wrong, in many ways I loved teaching, especially the actual teaching element of it and the contact with the kids. But there's a lot more to the job than that and I wouldn't go back unless the working conditions changed drastically. I left teaching when I had dd so that I could actually spend some time with her rather than other people's kids, as lovely as they are.

IME behaviour is challenging - I've been spat at, smacked, hit, kicked, told to "f off", bitten, stabbed with a pencil, and witnessed kids destroying a classroom when having a meltdown*

Me too and it's only bloody Wednesday!

I was a TA for a year pre-dc and pre-dh, it was fucking miserable. The pay is so shit you can't afford to go on holiday or do anything in the holidays. I was so hard up i was basically living on pasta and beans and sitting round the house watching tv all holidays. I think i earned about £900 per month and my bills (not inc food) were about £750. I was the thinnest i've ever been!

I wasn't keen on the holidays as a TA . So I didn't have to fork out on childcare but really the summer holiday is the only bonus...and I was too poor to do anything. There would be endless speculation about what everyone was doing too. Added to such its all twice the price and everywhere is rammed.
Bank holidays are always included in the weeks you have off anyway so no advantage there.
Who wants a week off in February when you need a Thurs to Monday off in June to go to a wedding. And most schools are pretty strict about time off so no more watching sports days or special assemblies of your own children

The TAs I know are being sacked at the end of this year as the school can no longer them. School finances are being cut to the bone in many areas.

^ no longer afford them

My mum was a teacher. She silent more time with other people's kids than she ever did with me!

Lol.

The money is dreadful unless you are a HiLTA, or have a SEN specialism. Mainstream TAs were on G2, once their salary was pro-rata'd down to account for 13 weeks off, lunch not paid, actually only paid for school opening hours, it was an absolute pittance with the expectation of working lunches, breaks, clubs after school for the sheer love of it.

You're paid roughly for about 22.5 hours a week/39 weeks